Sahoma Lake

Sahoma Lake is a 340 surface acre lake located just 2 1/2 miles northwest of downtown Sapulpa and offers hunting, fishing, camping, and boating opportunities.

Work under way at Lake Sahoma spillwayBy Don Diehl, Sapulpa News & Views

The replacement of the
troublesome spillway at Sapulpa’s Lake Sahoma has begun. The lake and
its main tributary, Rock Creek to its northwest, has been drained
nearly dry. Only a few pools are still holding water.

Circle B Construction out of
Bristow with facilities also in Sapulpa is currently removing the
original spillway built in 1947. The company also is building a road
from the wastewater treatment plant to the back of the spillway so
concrete trucks can have access once the new spillway is formed up.
Equipment -- dozers and a huge jackhammer -- are on site at the lake
side of the spillway.

Assistant City Manager Rick
Rumsey is overseeing the progress there as well as that of three other
projects being funded by bond issues approved by voters last year.
Rumsey asks that citizens remain patient. The lake is a back-up water
source for Sapulpa, but also a popular recreational area with fishing,
duck-hunting, camping, picnicking, hiking and wildlife watching. “We
are going to use this time to make several other improvements out
here,” Rumsey said this week on site in his monthly city update
meeting with Sapulpa News and Views. “We are using all of our
departments to address some maintenance and shoreline issues,” he
said.

Two of the bond issue
projects, including the Lake Sahoma spillway replacement, will satisfy
consent orders from two Oklahoma governmental agencies. The Oklahoma
Water Resource Board has been monitoring leaks in the spillway’s
approximately six-foot thick concrete dam (not to be confused with the
lake’s rock and earthen dam a little further west) for the past several
years. It has failed inspections for at least four years. Leaks
were getting more pronounced and the city was told it would have to
address the integrity of the 70-year old structure. The lake was pulled
down in 2012 and again in 2013 for assessment and possible repair. The
city did not have enough funds to meet the estimated repair costs
(more than 600,000) at that time and the lake filled up once more.

Since the opening of the
lake in 1947 the spillway was re-enforced some years later when the lake
level was raised about three feet. That also is when the bridge on
Lake Road between Pretty Water Lake and Sahoma was raised. Now, it too
is problematic and has to be replaced. Rumsey hopes that can happen
while the lake is down.

The spillway replacement could be
completed by spring if weather allows another 100 days of good work
days.

The 2017 Saint Francis Tulsa Tough has requested to use Sapulpa’s Sahoma Lake as one of their Rest Stops for their three day cycling festival, which is designed to promote fitness and active lifestyles.